The One Meat You Should Avoid At Whole Foods' Hot Bar

If you buy a lot of natural or organic groceries, there's a good chance you've shopped at Whole Foods. The chain actually has a list of "banned ingredients," including synthetic food dyes, sweeteners, preservatives, partially-hydrogenated oils, and bromated flour (via Whole Foods Market).

Sounds great, right? Well, sure, but you'll certainly be paying a bit more for these better-for-you products. According to the Grocery Store Guy, Whole Foods charges as much as 10 to 20% more than other grocery stores. But again, you're paying for organic food, and organic food is going to be more expensive.

Although Whole Foods' products may be healthier for you, there are a number of things you should buy elsewhere. For example, you should never buy from Whole Foods' hot bar, as these dishes and sides are very pricey. However, if you're dead-set on getting something from the hot bar for a quick and easy dinner, at the very least avoid one particular kind of meat.

One Whole Foods employee commented on Reddit that shoppers should go "out of (their) way" to buy meat elsewhere because the price difference is so great. Those differences only increase when you purchase bone-in meats. After all, when you buy from the hot bar, you pay by weight.

The problem with buying bone-in meats is that bones add to the total weight, and the heavier a chunk of meat is, the more you're going to pay. In fact, according to PopSugar, you should "avoid wasting any of your box's weight on heavy bones," and instead buy pulled pork, grilled chicken, or fish, which are lighter.

None of this is to say Whole Foods' bone-in meats are awful. They're not. Per Whole Foods' website, its meats are Animal Welfare Certified, antibiotic-free, and growth hormone-free. All of this is reflected in the quality. So, if you do decide to go ahead and pay more for bone-in meat from Whole Foods, you should at least be saving your meat bones to use in soup, broth, or stock.